ACC All Access: Virginia comes up short on offensive objectives, fourth down decision-making

By Norm Wood

After reviewing what Virginia coach Mike London hoped to get accomplished heading into Saturday's 14-3 loss at Pittsburgh, it was almost as if his offense was trying to do exactly the opposite in some areas during the game.

Last Monday, London said was asked if he'd do anything to try to facilitate his offense to have a fast start, which has been an issue for his team all season. Through the first three games, U.Va. (2-2 overall, 0-1 ACC) had scored just seven first-quarter points. That number remains the same after the Pittsburgh game.

London said it would be important to hang onto the ball at Pittsburgh (3-1, 2-1) and not create short fields for the Panthers' offense. He said he wanted to have a productive running game to help get U.Va. into the red zone, planned to utilize quarterback David Watford's skill set and intended to not be afraid to throw the deep ball to wide receivers like Tim Smith or Darius Jennings.

Those were five stated objectives, and U.Va. failed in at least three of them (holding onto the ball, not creating short fields for Pittsburgh and having a productive running game). Given the outstanding play of his defense against Pittsburgh, the continued offensive failures had to be frustrating.

“We played a heck of a game,” said London regarding the performance of his defense, which held Pittsburgh to 199 yards – the first time since 1972 that U.Va. has held opponents under 200 yards in back-to-back games (Virginia Military Institute had 99 yards Sept. 21 in U.Va.’s 49-0 win). “We played aggressive, and we played hard. We created turnovers. We sacked the quarterback and we hit the quarterback.

“When we can do those types of things, you expect the opportunities on the other side to give you a chance to score points.”

Instead, two first quarter fumbles – one on special teams by Dominique Terrell, who had been solid fielding and returning punts for U.Va. all season entering Saturday, and another by Watford, a Hampton High graduate – led to 14 Pittsburgh points after the Panthers took over in the Cavaliers’ red zone.

It was the very definition of what U.Va. couldn’t afford to do, as if special-ordered from the book of what-not-to-do on the road, or in any other setting for that matter. Of course, offensive London’s decision-making on fourth down, offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild's game plan and U.Va.’s execution on offense all ended up having a lot to be desired as well.

London decided to bypass fourth down opportunities for Frye field goal attempts of 20, 44 and 45 yards, including on back-to-back drives in the second quarter when U.Va. was already trailing 14-0. U.Va. failed to pick up a first down on all three resulting fourth down plays.

Frye is 3 of 4 on field goal attempts this season, including a successful 53-yarder in the season-opening win against Brigham Young.

“Where the ball was spotted (on the aforementioned fourth down plays in the second quarter), if you punt it and it goes in the end zone, then it’s a touchback,” London said. “Just looking at the breeze up top that the coaches looked at, and we said maybe his attempts to kick it – we could’ve, but we didn’t.

“Those fourth down opportunities, when you’re down and on the road like that, we’ve got to make those things happen. We were 1 for 4 (on fourth downs in the game), and, basically, they were two yards or less in those situations. We’ve got to do a much better job."

U.Va. had eight drives in which it failed to pick up a first down, including four consecutive drives that matched that criteria to open the second half – two of which came after safety Anthony Harris got the ball back for the Cavaliers via a forced fumble and an interception.

“The whole game I just talked to guys and told them to stay positive,” said Harris of what he thought after U.Va. failed to score after he created two of Pittsburgh’s turnovers.

“I just thought it was a matter of time before we would be able to get a few (turnovers) and we’d be able to get points.”

Those points never came.

Harris represented one of the players making the most defensive highlights on a unit full of players in that mode. U.Va. finished with seven sacks, which was its most in a game since Sept. 30, 2006 (nine in a win against Duke).

Linebacker Max Valles, who was making his first career start, had 2 1/2 sacks. Maurice Canady capitalized on a pair of cornerback blitzes to have two sacks.

Defensive tackle David Dean added 1 1/2 sacks. Senior defensive tackle Brent Urban entered the game with 10 career tackles for loss. He had four more tackles for loss, including a half-sack, against Pittsburgh.

U.Va. put quarterback Tom Savage out of the game with concussion-like symptoms late in the fourth quarter. After throwing for 424 yard and an ACC single-game record-tying six touchdowns Sept. 21 in a 58-55 win at Duke, Savage completed just 13 of 31 passes for 191 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions against U.Va.

Pittsburgh ran for just eight yards. It actually hasn’t been long since U.Va. gave up even fewer rushing yards in a game. On Oct. 13 last season, Maryland had minus-2 rushing yards in a 27-20 win at U.Va.

“Offensively, we struggled and never really got a rhythm going,” said Pittsburgh coach Paul Chryst, whose team . “Virginia has a good defense. On third downs, we continued to struggle. We weren’t consistent running the football.”

U.Va. didn’t make nearly the same kind of impact when it had the ball. Running backs Kevin Parks, Khalek Shepherd and Daniel Hamm combined to have 20 carries 46 yards.

After running 13 times for 35 yards in the first half, Parks had just three more carries for minus-1 yard in the second half (16 carries for 34 yards in the game). U.Va.’s longest run of the day came when Terrell ran for 21 yards on an end around during a third-quarter drive that concluded with Ian Frye’s 32-yard field goal.

Watford did a little running out of the read option and operated some out of the pistol formation. He carried the ball for 50 yards, but he was credited with just 15 yards rushing in the game after being sacked three times and fumbling the ball twice.

Coming into the game, no team in the nation had fewer completions of 15 or more yards than U.Va., which had four.

It had three completions of 15 or more yards against Pittsburgh, including a 27-yard catch by Jennings (only U.Va.’s third catch of 25 or more yards this season) and 16-yard receptions by Terrell and receiver Adrian Gamble. Only Gamble’s catch came on a drive that ended with a score.